The Planning System and Housing Sector in Turkey

There have been extensive rearrangement of the Turkish planning system in terms of both institutional restructuring and reform of planning laws between 2000-2014. Planning reforms have emerged a recentralized planning system that remarkably differs from the period of 1985-200, which adopted decentralization of planning authorities. New regulations basically provide the basis for government institutions to be more influential in urban development processes, and strengthen the power of the role of some municipalities in planning whilst defenestrating others. In this paper, the prospective impacts of the new planning system on housing development are discussed. The discussion of the new planning system from the housing development perspective is based on documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews. The interviewee sample includes two main groups: the first group involves planning authorities and the second group involves market actors in housing development sector. This system-wide discussion aims to reflect policy-makers, governmental decision-makers and market actors’ perspectives on the housing development views on the new planning system beyond and the opportunities and/or conflicts that arise.